Last season Jonny Gomes hit .267/.338/.541 with 20 homers in 314 plate appearances as a part-time player and the Reds non-tendered him prior to arbitration, re-signing him to a one-year, $800,000 deal with a team option for 2011.
This season Gomes hit .266/.327/.431 with 18 homers in 571 plate appearances as a full-time player, watching his OPS drop by 121 points, and general manager Walt Jocketty said yesterday that the Reds “probably will” exercise their $1.75 million to bring him back.
I’m not sure how that series of events really makes any sense, but as a right-handed hitter with a .790 career OPS and 25 homers per 500 at-bats Gomes is worth $1.75 million in 2011. He shouldn’t be an everyday player again, because his defense is awful in left field and he’s always struggled against right-handed pitching, but even for merely a platoon player and bench bat to knock around southpaws that’s a reasonable salary.
Plus, just having his hair and fashion sense on the team is likely worth a few hundred thousand bucks a year.
